Felix “Kozy” Koziol – was born in 1900 and served 42 years with the United States Forest Service, 21 of these years spent as supervisor of the Wasatch National Forest in Utah. During his years as Forest Service Supervisor in Salt Lake City, he played a key role in the development of snow safety at Alta and was the person most instrumental in securing artillery to be used in avalanche control. He hired the Alta Snow Rangers who carried on a scientific research program at Alta for many years during the mid 1940s through the 1950s. In 1947, he co-authored the first official publication on avalanches, entitled “Alta Avalanche Studies.” This was followed in 1954 by the first official government handbook on avalanches, and in 1961 by a handbook he wrote on forecasting and control measures, titled “Snow Avalanches.”
Along with his snow safety contributions, Koziol played a primary role in the 1946 formation of a certification process for potential ski instructors, under the umbrella of the Intermountain Amateur Ski Association, for which Koziol was the Secretary-Treasurer. Meetings were held at the Alta Lodge where guidelines were established for testing those interested in becoming ski instructors. In addition, Koziol served as Intermountain editor for the American Ski Annual and he wrote many articles about Alta as a new winter ski resort.
In addition to being inducted into the U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame in 1974, he was awarded the coveted Julius P. Blegen Memorial Emblem Citation for outstanding service to the U.S. sport of skiing, presented by the National Ski Association of America in 1952.
Following retirement from the U.S. Forest Service in 1964, he was appointed director of the Utah State Parks System, a position he held until 1968. He passed away in 1976.